Combined cork and dropper.



Patented on. 7'," I902.

W. KEUFFEL.

I COMBINED CORK AND DROPPE R. I

(Apphcatnon filed Aug 29 1901 No. 7|0,5s7.

(No Model.)

UNTTED STATES PATENT OEETCE.

WILLIAM KEUFFEL, OF HOBOKEN, NE\V JERSEY.

COMBINED CORK AND DROPPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters latent No. 710,587, dated October '7, 1902.

Application filed August 29, 1901- Serial No. 73,659. (No modelil To (all who/7t it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM KEUFFEL, of the city of Iloboken, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin a Combined Cork and Dropper, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates particularly to improvements in the previously-proposed means for stoppering bottles or other receptacles and for extracting the ink or similar liquid contained therein and applying the same to pens or brushes, which means embrace a bottle-stopper having an opening therethrough and provided at its upper-end with a shield, within which is located a compressible bulb which is applied to the upper end of a tube which projects through the opening in said stopper and into which tube the liquid from the receptacle is drawn and from which it is expelled by pressure applied to said bulb.

The invention consists in certain peculiarities in the construction and arrangement of and dropper from the stopper while the lat ter is applied to the bottle-neck. Frequently the removal of the entire stopper from the bottle is attended with considerable difficulty, especially when ink or other fluid which tends to stick the stopper to the bottleneck is the fluid contained in the bottle. One aim of the present invention is to obviate this disadvantage by so constructing the parts that the extract-or and dropper may readily be removed from the stopper, after having received the desired quantity of liquid from the receptacle, without necessitating removal of the stopper from the bottle.

The previous proposal is not only restricted in its use to the removal of the entire stopper from the bottle, but its construction is also such that in its use in expelling the liquid from the tube the pressure for said purpose is essentially applied to the bulb in a direction perpendicular or at an angle approximately perpendicular to the vertical axis through the tube at a place on one side of the transverse center of said tube. This pressure obviously tends to incline the tube, so that unless great care is used in filling a drawing-pen, for instance, the point of said tube becomes displaced from between the blades of the pen, thus dropping a large blotch of ink on the adjacent territory instead of within the pen. A further aim of the present invention, therefore, is to overcome this important disadvantage by so constructing the parts that when the stopper is removed from the bottle, with the extractor and dropper in said stopper, the pressure applied to the bulb for the purpose of ejecting the liquid from the tube will be in the plane of the ioncitudinal axis through the tube,whereby there will be no tendency to displace the point of the tube from between the blades of the pen; and a further object of'the invention is to provide a device of the kind stated which by one and the same alteration in the construction from what has been previously proposed overcomes the tendency of the point to become displaced in the ejecting of the liquid from its tube, as stated, and offers the user the choice of several modes of use, either the removal of the entire stopper from the bottle or the removal of the extractor and dropper alone orwith the cap.

These objects are well accomplished by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view of my device applied to a bottle, which is shown in cross-section. Fig. 2 is a cross-section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1 of my device removed from the bottle. Fig. 3 is a view of the dropper removed from the cork or stopper, Fig. 4; is a separate view of the stopper and neck. Fig. 5 is a top view of the cork and dropper removed from the bottle.

The cork A is provided With a centralvertical bore a, extending from top to bottom, and has secured to its upper part a cap or neck B, which is also provided with a vertical bore 1), the two forming a continuous channel. The aperture 1) is somewhat larger in diameter than a, so that a step a is formed at the point Where the two meet. The extracting and dropping device consists of a tube 0, of glass or other suitable material, having a tapering lower part and a bulb D upon its upper end. The bulb D is secured by means of the sleeve d, which passes over the upper end of the tube and is formed by an extension of the' bulb proper.

When the dropping device is passed into the cap and stopper, the lower edge of the sleeve (Z rests upon the step a, and thus prevents the said dropper from passing therethrough. The cap B is of greater diameter than the cork and is adapted to have its lower edge I) rest upon the upper edges of the bottle-neck. The upper portion 1) of the cap surrounds the upper end of the tube 0 and the sleeve (1, thus forming a protecting-neck for the same. The mouth of the aperture 1) is enlarged, so that the bulb D will fit therein.

Particular attention is called to the fact that the cap B is open at the top and that the bulb D projects to or above the open top of said cap. Hence in the use of the device when the entire stopper is removed from the bottle or when the extractor is removed with the cap B for the purpose of applying ink to a drawing pen, for instance, said cap B constitutes a rigid support which may be grasped by the hand or between the thumb and second finger while the first finger presses on top of the bulb D, whereby the pressure will be in the line of the longitudinal axis of the tube, and there will be no tendency of lateral diversion of the point of the tube from between the blades of said pen. Moreover, as

the opening in the cap is in the extreme top thereof, the tube 0 and bulb D may be removed from the stopper A and cap 13 Whenever desired without requiring said stopper and cap to be removed from the neck of the bottle.

In operation the cork A is fitted into the neck of the bottle with the lower edge of the cap B resting upon the upper edges thereof. When it is desired to remove a small quantity of the liquid contained in the bottle, the bulb D is compressed by downward pressure applied thereto with the thumb or finger and r then released until the desired amount of the liquid has passed into the tube G. The dropper may then be removed and the liquid applied as required by again compressing the bulb by downward pressure applied thereto.

' What I claim is- 1. A combined bottle-stopper and dropper, embracing a stopper proper, a tube extending through the same, a cap above said stopper, said cap having a longitudinal opening extending entirely through it, and a com pressible bulb applied to the upper end of said tube and located in said opening in the cap, substantially as described and for the purposes specified.

2. A combined bottle-stopper and dropper, embracing a stopper proper, a tube extending through the same and removable therefrom, a cap above said stopper, said cap having a longitudinal opening extending entirely through it, and a compressible bulb applied to the upper end of said tube and located in the opening in the cap.

Signed in the city of New York, in the county of New York, this 21st day of August, 1901.

WILLIAM KEUFFEL.

Witnesses:

C. WILLIoH, J. A. FINCK. 

